Bandit Group Kills 70 Security Volunteers In Nigeria

UNSPLASH/Maxim Hopman ILLUSTRATION

The bandits killed 70 community security volunteers in attacks in the Nigeria-hit state of Plateau.

Volunteer leader Aliyu Baffa said the attack took place on Monday, July 7 at noon near the Kukawa and Bunyun communities in the Kanam district as hundreds of volunteers were heading to the Madam Forest, a full-armed bandit hiding place.

Reported by Reuters on Wednesday, July 9, Bafta said more than 70 volunteers were killed and more bodies may have been found. More than 60 people were buried in Kukawa.

Musa Ibrahim, a resident of Bunyun, confirmed the incident. He reported bandits also killed 10 security volunteers in his community and burned several houses.

The attack underscores the spike in inter-faction bloodshed, which often engages Islamist militias or criminal gangs, across Africa's most populous nation in recent months, with 2,266 people killed in the first half of 2025.